be your own beloved | adventures in self portraiture

January 29, 2014

last year i took part in vivienne mcmaster’s be your own beloved, which is a month long self portrait adventure. like many of my clients i don’t generally like having my photo taken and being behind the camera means i manage to avoid photos much of the time! but i wanted to challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone. it’s funny; i can see my clients with eyes of compassion and kindness, but not always myself, which is something i constantly need to work on. surprisingly, i thoroughly enjoyed the process and i actually did begin to see myself differently- as the days went on i was excited to receive my daily email and plan a mini photo session with myself! making time for myself in such a small way and using my artform to create self portraits is amazing and quite therapeutic.

i recommend this course to anyone, it will absolutely change your thoughts about yourself and your self image, plus you have a group of supportive people on the same journey (and you totally do not need to be a photographer to take part, most people who do it aren’t!)

each day you receive a different prompt, so each of these images actually have a title and meaning to me. here’s my 28 days! x